Method for soaking natural silk fibers



Patented D... 31, 1935 UNITED STATES "PATENT" METHOD roa SOAKING NATURAL- smx FIBERS Philip Ka'plan, Brooklyn, N. I.

'No Drawing.

5Claims.

This invention relates to a method and a product for soaking natural silk fibers. It is customary to soak silk fibers prior to throwing or twisting and winding. This soaking is for the 5 purpose of softening the fibers so that they may be handled. It is particularly desirable that this soaking be not of such a nature as to remove the gum which surrounds the fiber, in fact, one

of the objects of this invention is to produce a soaking material or bath that will prevent degumming and particularly during the later manipulation of the silk, as degumming tends to interrupt subsequent operations and may clog the machinery to a disastrous extent as will b later described. Y

The materials used for the purpose of soaking natural silk fibers generally consist of soap and raw oils such as olive oil, neat's-foot oil and in some instances, mineral oil or of prepared emulsified oils consisting of various emulsifying agents in combination with the oils as above set forth. In order to impart hygroscopicity to the silk,

it has been customary to use, in conjunction with the above mentioned compounds, glycerine, or diethylene' glycol.

The use of the above mentioned compounds are fraught with certain limitations which may be the source of considerable trouble in the subsequent steps of preparing the yarn or knitting 1 80 or weaving, for instance, when soap and raw oil considerable percentage of fatty acids present. 40 The presence of fatty acids is objectionable in that the needles of the machines become corroded, which results in a roughening of .the fibers or increases stripping or both. To neutralize these troducing the proper type and amount of alkali,

otherwise the degumming will be increased and ing and which may also result in sleaziness and mildew, both of which are exceedingly objec-- free fatty acids great care must be taken in indimculties in the operation of knitting or weav- Application August 81, 1933, sQl'ial N0. 687,582

' to describe, are that it is unnecessary to add alkali, glycerine, 'mineral oils, raw oils or soap.

The ease with which my material boils of! makes it unnecessary to resort to high temperatures or the use of excess soaps which are found 5 necessary to boil off mineral oil and raw oils and thus preventing degumming.

Because of the high penetrationpower, hygroscopic silk is obtained by the use of my material. alone. 7 1

- The products that I use to obtain the desired results are such as are obtained by sulphonating tallows, palm oil, waxes, olive oil, castor oil and fatty alcohols to such an extent that the organically combined SO: will be high, and I prefer and desire that the organically combined SO: be not less than 5% but may be as high as 12%. By this process, extremely soluble and highly penetrating fatty compounds are obtained and'the fatty acids derived therefrom are of. particularly high ftitre or solidifying point, even though the .oil treated bythat process is originally in a fluid state and while I may use any of the materials therein described, I particularly choose for this purpose those compounds described as tallow, palm oil, waxes, olive oil, castor oil and fatty alcohols.

I have found that the desired materials treated and sulphonated in the manner set forth have the characteristic of being absorbed chemically by the natural silk fibers and it is to this characteristic that I attribute certain important advantages to be derived from their use, this in contradistinction to the compounds heretofore used which depend upon their rather individual physical properties.

As an example of the method employed in using the products herein described, I take pints of the fatty materials sulphonated to from 5 to 12% organicallycombined S0: based upon the fatty content thereof, as above referred to, and dissolve this fatty material in 60 gallons of water at a. temperature of F. Into this bath I immerse lbs. of silk yarn for a period of about 12 hours. At the time of this treatment the silk is probably in standard commercial skeins and after the period of soaking, the-skeins are removed from the bath and placed in a hydro-extractor where the moisture is removed to the desired extent.

none of the disadvantages heretofore referred to. 66,

The foregoing example assumes the treatment of Japanese silk, but as silk fibers vary, dependent upon their origin, so the material and treatment will be varied, for example with China, Italian or Tussah silks; the proportion of the fatty compound used and the time and temperature will be varied as final results will dictate, but such variations as arerequired may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention.

Having carefully and fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to obtain is:

1. The process of treating natural silk fibers which consists of soaking the fibers in a bath containing high titre fats which have been sulphonated to a minimum of 5% organically combined S03 based on the fatty content.

2. The method of treating natural silk fibers which consists of soaking fibers in a bath containing a sulphonated tallow which has been sulphonated to at least 5% organicaily combined B0: based on the fatty content of said material. 3. The method herein described for treating natural silk fibers which consists of soaking the fibers for approximately 12 hours in a bath containing sulphonated castor oil containing at least 12% organically combined S0: based on thefatty 5, The method herein described of treating natural silk fibers which consists of soaking the 15 fibers for approximately 12 hours in' a bath containing olive oil suiphonated to a minimum of 12% organically combined SO: based on the fatty content.

PHILIP, KAPLAN. 20 

